The Current Disneyland Annual Pass Program Has Been Cancelled

[StarlitNight05]

I wonder how they will handle refunding monthly payment plan folks that put a large down payment on their passes? My friend did that since she had a lot of gift cards stored up. She just texted me freaking out that it won't get refunded to her since she was monthly...but she only had her AP for a few months. Yikes, these types of scenarios are going to be a headache for CMs!

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I'm guessing fewer than Disney would like.

we will agree to disagree.

 

[Diszona]

Same here. We used our AP's once in January.

At least our first use was the week before it shutdown so we should get most of our money back but I would still rather have the pass so we could fit in more trips once it opens back up.

 

[DontSpamMe]

we will agree to disagree.

I wouldn't sweat that too much. Disney knows who butters their bread and if you are a AP holder staying at GH you will more than likely have a seat at the table. Those discount passes and unrestricted access probably turned into a problem.

 

[DLRcandyrain]

I am truly sorry for AP holders but selfishly as an out of stater making 1-2x yearly visits, thank you! This has been a long time coming. It’s too crowded to want to pay $2000 for a 3 day trip. Bringing back some sort of AP is inevitable, but the payment plans have got to go. Disneyland has been a top 5 percenter type of vacation for a while now, they might as well be open about it and say you’ve got to pay to play. Enough people are willing to pay higher prices for a better experience I think.

I don’t want to be mean about it, but with such high demand for the park and resort, AP combined with monthly payments brought down the cost of attendance to such a low number, DLR had to do things like cut off daily ticket sales to accommodate those passes. That’s not optimal revenue management and you ended up with the park being completely packed on a Friday night as people got off work.

I was one of those folks for the longest time, so I never understood the consequences until I moved further away.

Having to pay $100+ per day for the privilege to enter the parks will curtail traffic severely...and I’m glad as a visitor, but I also understand it’s a going to be a different set of challenges.

DLR, in all its crowd issues, still needed to drive Monday-Thursday/off-peak visits pre-pandemic. They got a taste of what was feasible for crowd control with Flex AP, I think they will go all-in on that once they can get back up to 100% capacity.

 

[Kender]

I wonder how they will handle refunding monthly payment plan folks that put a large down payment on their passes? My friend did that since she had a lot of gift cards stored up. She just texted me freaking out that it won't get refunded to her since she was monthly...but she only had her AP for a few months. Yikes, these types of scenarios are going to be a headache for CMs!

This is my concern (and very glad for your comment to latch on to because I'm this close to silencing several people who are showing a distinct lack of respect for those deeply upset over this).

The language sounds like we should get a refund for anything in excess, but after the mess WDW refunds were, I'm not holding my breath and expect those in that position will need to call eventually to get things sorted.

 

[Malela9]

Premier passholders here... it will be interesting to see if they figure up refunds for the "whole" premier pass, break up the Florida vs. California paid amounts, or something totally different. The refund page wasn't really clear from what I saw if you have WDW thrown into the mix.

Maybe we'll get some visits in at WDW before our premier "sunsets" on March 31st!

I have a Premier also. I have been 3 times since July on the extensions from Disney. I have 4 months left on my Disneyland side of my AP. My wish is that I could get 4 more months so I could take my daughter one more time to WDW before they cancel us. We will see. The Premier was a godsend for those of us who visited both resorts

 

[DLgal]

I wonder how they will handle refunding monthly payment plan folks that put a large down payment on their passes? My friend did that since she had a lot of gift cards stored up. She just texted me freaking out that it won't get refunded to her since she was monthly...but she only had her AP for a few months. Yikes, these types of scenarios are going to be a headache for CMs!

That is all explained in the press release. There are specific calculations for each scenario.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I wouldn't sweat that too much. Disney knows who butters their bread and if you are a AP holder staying at GH you will more than likely have a seat at the table.

I know I will, I'm just bummed right now and I'm allowed to be a bit angry about it. It's just a sore spot when people talk about how happy they are that AP holders are getting booted out for now and how they supposedly ruined their good time when they are just as entitled to go to Disneyland as everyone else. AP holders are a huge part of Disney and to try to say oh well yay i am so happy my vacation will be better now without knowing that there are AP holders who are from out of state that have APs that utilize everything a vacationer does and I'm sorry but Disney wanted the parks to be full because they made the most money that way, they didn't want an off season like vacationers who don't have APs want ... so really if you can't handle crowds people shouldn't have gone to Disney then but with COVID they have to cut back (which I get.), and I get this will stop people who had APs from going and it'll help with crowd control until things get better.

 

[DontSpamMe]

I can only imagine how bummed. We've all been waiting for that place to open since March and the hits just keep coming.

Stay safe and we will all be there eventually. What a cluster......

 

[DLRcandyrain]

You aren't sorry then, you are really happy that AP holders are getting the short end of the stick when they most likely spend more money than you do at Disney. I understand wanting to have a good vacation, but AP holders pay to play, they should get rid of the payment plan and maybe only have one SoCal pass (which I think would limit how many people get APs) but to do away with APs all together is a terrible move on Disney's part. I'm sad about the pass thing, but I know I'll still go because I can pay to play.

I'm sure that came off rude, but to act like AP holders don't spend money at Disney is annoying. They make a huge part of Disney's visitors and it's just depressing.

I’m an AP holder (former now, I suppose) and I’m looking at the silver lining for the change, because I’ve always been concerned with how certain segments of the AP population viewed DLR as “just another random thing to do” and not the special place I feel this park is.

Not just that, but crowd control is almost impossible when you sell a product priced at $100/month (or whatever the monthly payment was for premiere) promising unlimited entry.

Most of us, I think, will be unaffected. If we want to go, we will pay, and we will love it...that will not change. We will pay more, but how is that different from what we do now? We always pay more, year after year.

I’m not jumping for joy that it’s a clean slate, but I’m genuinely excited for what this could mean for the parks, park experiences, and trip planning for the year(s) to come.

 

[Guy in Fargo]

An unfortunate no brainer.

Disney will have no trouble filling the park until it is allowed to operate at full capacity.

My eight-year-olds response, "Another reason not to live in California!"

 

[AndrewC]

I think we’ve seen the evolution starting to show up before the shut down even hit.

Obviously this will give them a leg up on reopening. Capacity issues will be much easier to handle and probably easier with locals only being allowed etc. (even though many APs were probably local, they might not have met the state of CA definition for local which seems to be one of the restrictions in the early reopen stages)

Going forward with new programs, I think we’ll see reservation based programs. Lower passes will be cheaper and have shorter advanced booking periods and black outs. More expensive will balance black outs and booking windows and possibly how many reservations one can hold at a time.

I think this was hinted at by the flex pass (systems already put in place to handle that) and with the single day prices changing based on expected demand.

APs are wildly important to Disneyland (loads of food and merch sales with repeat guests), but capacity issues have been showing up recently and this will be a way to dynamically balance access and capacity.

It’s going to be good and bad. Hopefully better guest experience for multi-day pass and single day tickets during peak visits, but also likely higher prices for passes and more expensive when you look at “per visit” cost of a price. (Either higher initial price or less visits during an AP period)

 

[MillauFr]

They need to do something. The current situation untenable and out of control with not nearly done to balance supply and demand for the parks.

 

[lcp9]

when they are just as entitled to go to Disneyland as everyone else.

absolutely. Everyone is entitled to go. And now everyone can pay the same price. It seems like you’re upset because you feel entitled to a lesser price per visit? People that want to stay at the GCH on top of that price are still more than welcome. It’s just silly what a guessing game it’s become to find slower days (which DO still exist, it’s slightly educated guess and mostly luck.) I don’t have anything against AP holders, but I do like the idea of lesser crowds at a higher price.

 

[Zurezo]

I think they know they wont be open for a bit and that they cant accommodate APs when they do open. They will have something new in 2022 and my guess is that it will be like the flex pass and you need to make a reservation to enter the park.

With all the money I am saving from the refund and from not being able to go for a year, I will be buying more DVC points. haha

 

[Kyjin]

This doesn't surprise me considering the changes they've made to the program over the last few years. I was a SoCal Select passholder for several years and absolutely loved it, but have limited my visits in the last few years to the SoCal 3-Day ticket they tend to release in January. Prior to Covid, I was intrigued by the Flex pass, but it was a bit out of my budget as a grad student. I'm looking forward to see what kind of programs come together in post-Covid times, and do agree this makes the most sense for a bit when the park finally does reopen.

 

[MonocularVision]

I have read through the scenarios on https://Disneyland.com/PassportRefund and have a question about folks that upgraded tickets to Passports. I am assuming the “Total Amount paid toward a Passport” in their calculations is only the difference right? Otherwise I would end up getting back not only what I paid to upgrade but some of what I paid toward my original 5-day park hoppers.

 

[MillauFr]

Not just that, but crowd control is almost impossible when you sell a product priced at $100/month (or whatever the monthly payment was for premiere) promising unlimited entry.

Exactly the price was far too low. I don't think they want to use price as the sole method to control demand. I'm sure they will end up to moving towards a variable pricing model in the future that requires advance planning. No deciding that day on a whim to go to Disneyland. That will not be possible in the future.

 

[joseph821]

WOW! This is a shock. But it is understandable. I was a Premium Pass Holder in the late 90s when I lived in California. And when I would visit with family from the East Coast -we always booked Walt Disney Travel Company vacation packages with tickets and hotel and always stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, I frequently upgraded my ticket to a Premium Pass so I could take advantage of the hotel discounts for future trips.

Disneyland just leveled the playing field.

You can bet that Disneyland Resort hotel guests will be guaranteed admission to both parks during their stays.

The monthly payments for CA residents made the AP programs too large. Monthly payments will be gone and that will greatly decrease the amount of passholders.

Also I do not expect many options in the new membership program. Disneyland will market day tickets for the Southern California Market.

The membership program could be an all access Premium Pass subject to a reservation system and nothing else.